Aluminium falls as surging China exports revive supply worries

By Solomon Cefai

SINGAPORE, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Aluminium prices fell on Tuesday after customs data showed higher exports from the world's biggest producer, China, so far this year.

Benchmark three-month aluminium on the London Metal Exchange was down 1.34% at $3,025.5 a metric ton by 0741 GMT. The most-traded aluminium contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange plunged 3.38% to 22,715 yuan ($3,405.45) a ton.

China exported 5.91 million tons of unwrought aluminium and aluminium products in the first 10 months of 2026, customs data showed, from 5.02 million tons in the same period a year earlier.

That includes exports of primary, alloy and semi-finished aluminium products from the country that is both the world's biggest producer and consumer of the light metal used in transportation and construction.

The data "reinforces concerns about additional Chinese material entering international markets," said Rupankar RM, head of market research and data intelligence at AL Circle, while cautioning that the high export number doesn't point to structural oversupply.

"Equally important is the fact that global inventories remain relatively low and the recovery of disrupted smelting capacity outside China is still a work in progress."

Aluminium levels in LME-registered warehouses, most of which is of Russian origin and avoided by many Western traders, remained constrained at 226,975 tons, 55% lower than at the start of the year.

The light metal's price premium, until recently tied to disrupted supply from the Middle East -- which accounts for 9% of global smelting capacity -- has faded amid expectations of production resuming there, along with new supply from Indonesia.

Meanwhile, industrial metal investors will closely watch the release of US CPI data for clues on the Federal Reserve's policy path at 1330 GMT.

Among LME metals, copper dipped 0.27%, zinc was little changed, down only 0.03%, lead dropped 0.16%, nickel lost 0.59% and tin lost 0.99%.

On the SHFE, copper dipped 0.24%, zinc lost 1.14%, lead lost 0.59%, nickel dropped 1.03% and tin fell 0.94%.

($1 = 6.6702 Chinese yuan renminbi)